


Cross Checking

by indianajane



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gay Male Character, M/M, Romance, Sex, gay relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:16:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indianajane/pseuds/indianajane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrian is a seventeen year old freshman two hundred miles from home. His first hockey game is less than memorable, but a kiss by the out of the closet hockey player Luke makes it a bit more so. Unfortunately, everything isn’t as perfect as it could be for Adrian, whose parents preached heterosexuality and punishments of fire and brimstone for those who indulged in ‘alternative lifestyles.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first original work I've posted on here, obviously I usually write more fan fiction than anything. But I'm actually happy with how this is going. I WELCOME comments, critiques, and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Also suggestions. I like suggestions. I do want to say that I KNOW Adrian has a shitty view of homosexual stereotypes. It's how his character is right now, and they don't reflect my own views in anyway.

“One minute left.”

Adrian opened his mouth to respond with something unintelligible, but he was cut off as two of the hockey players slammed into the glass in front of him, causing the brunette to jerk back against the plastic back of his chair.

Next to him, Jessica laughed audibly, not at all trying to hide her amusement. “You know, when the game fails to hold my attention, you do quite a good job of amusing me,” she teased the younger boy, a playful grin curling her lips upward.

“It’s not funny,” Adrian mumbled, wrapping his arms tighter around himself and shivering. “I’m _cold_ and excuse me if huge guys slamming into the glass less than two feet from my nose makes me jump.”

“So did hockey pucks hitting it.”

He frowned, letting out a huff as he stared at the stop clock above the ice rink. “At least it’s almost over,” Adrian mumbled. “I don’t know why I came. You know I don’t know shit about hockey.” He shifted in his chair, trying to draw in on himself in order to keep at least somewhat warm. Wearing a light hoodie and jeans, it was obvious that Adrian had underestimated how cold a hockey arena could actually be.

Again two people hit the glass, but this time Adrian barely jerked back. Still, he looked up and met the bright blue eyes of Luke Abney, his own eyes widening at the pained look on the other’s face. But then, he probably shouldn’t have been all that surprised. Hitting a glass wall full force with someone helping you into it didn’t seem like a pleasing activity to the body.

As Adrian studied Luke, the buzzer rang and the stands behind him erupted into cheers. Immediately Jessica tugged him up as well, cheering and clapping exuberantly. For his part, Adrian clapped half-heartedly while trying not to look out of place. Luke pushed away from the glass, the other player skating back to his side of the arena while Luke slid over to his teammates and began the traditional clap-each-other-on-every-available-body-part dance.

Jessica’s elbow in his side surprised him, and when Adrian glanced at her she leaned over and yelled, “You know Luke, right?”

Adrian nodded, turning so his mouth was close to her ear. “Yeah. We have American History together. He’s my project partner.” Truthfully they’d only met three times, and more than anything Adrian had just felt _awkward_ around the older hockey player.

At seventeen, Adrian was younger than most of the other freshman and being in a class of mostly sophomores and juniors didn’t help his underage complex.At first he’d been convinced that getting paired with Luke was the cliché ‘geek does jock’s homework’ gig, but to his surprise-and relief-that hadn’t been the case at all. Luke was _smart_. Much smarter than Adrian had initially give him credit for.

Jessica was nodding, and gestured almost immediately for Adrian to turn and walk up the concrete stairs. He did so, weaving around the other students in order to get to the top rather quickly.

Once there he paused, waiting for Jessica to join him. She’d gotten caught behind a few people, and as he waited Adrian shivered fiercely. He’d be glad to get out of the arena and back into his dorm room where the heat was turned on.

“Do you want to go to dinner? I didn’t eat,” Jessica inquired, giving him an apologetic grin. “I was out with Tori, so we didn’t have time.”

Adrian nodded a few times, walking out of the large area and immediately relaxing in the significantly warmer air. “Sure. I don’t really have anything to do, so I don’t mind going to eat with you.” He gave her a small grin before going on. “As long as you don’t mind driving me to the pet store on Monday. Wallace needs a new heat lamp.”

Jessica rolled her eyes, though nodded. “I don’t mind. Is it okay if I take you to the small one in town, or do you need the bigger one?”

Already Adrian was shaking his head. “The small one’s fine. They’ll have what I need for him.”

“How is your creepy bearded lizard, anyway? Still kicking and eating…live things?” Jessica’s nose had scrunched up in badly hidden disgust. Adrian rolled his eyes, not really irritated by her reaction to his pet any longer.

“You know, I went to a hockey game for you,” he began. “Even though I know _nothing_ about it and I didn’t want to. You could at least pretend that my lizard doesn’t creep you out.”

“I’m a terrible actor.”

“Good thing you have your looks then.”

Jessica turned, throwing Adrian a quick, amused grin. “Exactly,” she agreed, flipping her blonde hair jokingly. Still, she knew she looked good. Most people agreed with that.

If Adrian was being honest with himself, he wasn’t one of the people that agreed. Not because Jessica wasn’t pretty-she was-it was just that she wasn’t precisely his type. And she never would be. But she was his best friend, and that was all that mattered in the end.

“Where are we going?” Adrian questioned, hanging back to follow Jessica as she made for the stairs.

“Just downstairs. The café is still open, and I don’t feel like walking to one of the few dining halls still open at….” She checked her phone. “Nine.” Both of them walked down the stairs, avoiding the crowd of people as best they could, and U-turned into the area under the stairs that led to the small café that students frequented.

“I’ve never actually eaten here,” Adrian admitted, pulling a few bills out of his wallet as both of them walked over to stand in front of the cash register. The girl working was busy with her phone, but at a riveting glare from Jessica she snapped it closed and walked over to the register.

The cashier opened her mouth, but was cut off by a chant of ‘GO SHARKS’ from the floor above. Almost politely she waited for them to finish before speaking. “What do you two want? Fryer’s off for the night.”

“Fried food is bad for you,” Jessica dismissed, pointing at a sandwich wrapped in behind the counter. “Can I have that chicken sandwich? And a bottle of water.” The woman seemed thankful that Jessica hadn’t asked for something that had required work, and positively _beamed_ when Adrian’s friend put a dollar in the tip jar.

Adrian wasn’t as nice with the tips like that. He, too, ordered a sandwich, though his was egg salad with lettuce. Snagging a bottle of root beer to go along with his sandwich, Adrian offered the woman a small smile and two quarters before following Jessica to a small table near the window. The smile he got, of course, wasn’t nearly as radiant as the one the woman had given Jessica.

“Did you like it?” Jessica asked the moment he sat down. A confused look crossed Adrian’s face, and he looked at her, confused. “The hockey game,” she went on in explanation. “Did you like watching it?”

“Oh.” Adrian hesitated, unwrapping the sandwich and glancing at the insides before taking a bite. For being made earlier in the day, it wasn’t half bad. “It was okay. I don’t understand why you need to sit _directly_ in front of the glass, but other than that I found it interesting, I guess.” Adrian figured he didn’t need to voice the fact that for most of the game he had no real idea what was going on, and constantly jumping when a puck or body slammed into the glass in front of him wasn’t exactly his idea of fun.

“It was fun,” Jessica concluded, already half way done with her sandwich. Adrian took another bite, chewing it thoughtfully. “Though I will admit that their team has more attractive players than ours.” She looked up at Adrian shrewdly, though the brunette turned to the side to look out the window. “Oh come _on_ , Adrian! You’re two hundred miles away from your dad. He’s not going to know if you agree with me that you think-“

Before she could finish Adrian kicked her, making Jessica’s words end in a yelp. “Look, I’ve told you _twenty_ times that just because I’m away from home doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to turn gay,” Adrian defended, glaring hard at her. “Okay?” When she didn’t agree he sighed. “Fine. Don’t agree. But just because you parade men in front of me-hockey players or tennis players-I’m not going to suddenly start waving my hands, wearing girls’ jeans, and telling you how fabulous they are.”

For a few moments Jessica didn’t speak, and Adrian wondered if she was going to tackle him from across the table for kicking her. But then Jessica smiled blithely and spoke as if Adrian hadn’t thrown a fit. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re deep enough in the closet to see _Narnia,_ Adrian. If you suddenly see a snowy forest and a goat man who introduces himself as Mr. Tumnus, please let me know.”

Already Adrian was drawing himself up to his unimpressive five feet six inches, forgetting he was in a chair and not standing, but before he could speak a sudden yell caught both of their attentions.

Jessica was able to glance over his shoulder, but Adrian had to fully turn around in order to see the six hockey players filtering into the café. Luke was with them, chatting to a red head that Adrian had never seen. Of course, he’d only seen the other five people for the first time in the game he’d just watched, and it was much harder to identify them without numbers and masks.

Jessica paid them attention for all of five seconds before turning back to her sandwich. “If you don’t think they’re attractive why are you still looking at them?” she mumbled under her breath, shooting Adrian a wicked glance.

The younger freshman flinched as if slapped and turned back to the table, looking down at his half eaten sandwich. “I don’t,” he reiterated, uncapping his root beer and taking a drink. “Hey, I meant to ask-“

He was cut off by a sudden yell by the hockey players, and Jessica rolled her eyes in irritation. “You want to just come back to my room or something?” she asked, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. “We probably won’t get much talking done here.” She cast the hockey players another look, grinning in spite of how annoyed she was trying to be.

“Sure.” Adrian shrugged, wrapping the rest of his sandwich up and tossing it in the trash. He hadn’t been that hungry anyway. Jessica was already walking toward the entrance, ignoring one of the players who called out to her. Adrian tried to follow quickly, not wanting to attract any attention himself from the jocks.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky. A hand snagged his wrist and Adrian glanced up into bright blue eyes and a wide grin. “Adrian!” Luke laughed, eyes bright with excitement. “I thought you said you weren’t interested in hockey!”

“I’m not,” Adrian stammered, stepping back slightly. “I-Jessica just-“

“-Maybe the kid’s your lucky charm,” one of the other players laughed, glancing at Adrian. “You don’t usually play so well. Almost gave Coach a heart attack.” Two of the other players nodded in agreement, though they barely seemed interested in Adrian past a cursory glance.

“Maybe you are, Adrian,” Luke agreed, nodding. “Will you come to tomorrow’s game? Just a scrimmage, but we can test out your luck giving skills then, eh?”

Floundering, Adrian glanced at Jessica for help. When he did she seemed resolved, and started to make her way back to him. “Knock it off, Luke. I thought you guys were in trouble for-“

“-I’m just talking to my friend Adrian,” Luke laughed, not sparing Jessica a glance. “Not doing shit to get myself in trouble.”

“Ohhh, I think Luke _likes_ him,” cawed one of the other players suddenly. “Seems a bit scrawny for you, Luke. Thought you liked ‘em more muscular.”

“Taller, at least,” agreed the red head.      

By then Adrian was completely at a loss. He pulled on his hand, trying to free himself from Luke’s grip even as the other hockey players set up a five-man chat.

“Give him a kiss! Give him a kiss!”

Luke laughed good naturedly, and before Adrian could react he had leaned down and pressed his lips to his. The chant ended and the others started cheering, just as Jessica grabbed Adrian’s other hand.

“Come on, Adrian,” she said, pulling on his arm and forcing Luke to let go. “Seems like this place is too packed for us now.”

“Aww, come on, Jess!” called one of the other players. “We aren’t being mean-“

“-You’re being immature,” Jessica shot back, though she didn’t turn to sling the insult at them, instead looking at the door as she marched toward it. “And we’re done with it. Adrian and I don’t need to deal with you idiots just because you’re hyped up about a win.”

In a better situation Adrian would’ve at least _nodded_ in agreement, but with his lips seemingly tingling and thoughts of _kissing boys_ racing through his head, he could only be dragged along by Jessica like a rag doll.

 


	2. chapter 2

Jumping at the sound of his roommate’s siren-like alarm, Adrian’s green eyes opened and he craned his neck around so he could see Jace tumble out of bed.

“Sorry for waking you up,” the older freshman mumbled, not looking the least bit apologetic. He said sorry every morning when his alarm went off, but that never changed the fact that he never turned down the volume or changed it to a different sound. 

“Don’t worry about it, “ Adrian yawned, sitting up and staring at the black cover on his bed. “I should get up anyway.” That was a bit of a lie. His class didn’t start for another hour, but at least this way he was able to go to breakfast and give Wallace some attention.

“You’re going to the pet store for Wallace tonight, right?” Jace asked, glancing at the glass terrarium on its shelf. 

“I am. He really needs a new heating lamp. Do you need anything while I’m out?” 

“No. But I’m bringing Rebecca back to the room tonight. She wanted my help with some project she’s doing. You don’t mind, do you?” Jace walked over to the closet, pulling open one of the drawers and rummaging around briefly until he found a shirt. 

Adrian shifted, getting to his feet and going to Wallace’s terrarium. He didn’t reply as he pulled the almost-two foot bearded lizard from its habitat and went back to sit cross legged on his bed. He did mind a bit. Not because he disliked Rebecca, but more because listening to them make out on the bed wasn’t his favorite soundtrack. It never failed that they descended into it by seven pm, and at that point Adrian just had to hope that Rebecca wasn’t staying the night. “I don’t mind,” he said finally. “I’ll probably go to the library and work some on my history project.” Without Luke.

Adrian hadn’t seen the blonde hockey player since Saturday. Since the surprise kiss in the café that had caused him to lie in bed for nearly an hour thinking of home and things that couldn’t happen. He wasn’t gay, for one, and if his father found out he hadn’t marched his ass to the university police building to report Luke for sexual harassment, no matter how trivial a simple kiss truly was, Allen Foster would not be at all happy.

In his lap, Wallace’s tail flicked and he turned to bury under one of the blankets. Adrian stroked his still-visible tail, and glanced up once again at Jace, who was threading his belt through his jeans. “You just have two classes today, right?”

Jace nodded. “Bio and Meteorology.”

Adrian was definitely jealous of that. Monday was his long day. He started at ten in the morning with his American Sign Language introduction class, then he had three hours of Astronomy and ended with another one and half of American History. By the time he got out of class it ended up being almost four thirty in the evening. He usually had about thirty minutes for lunch, and Adrian had a habit of eating something from the depths of his fridge on Mondays since he was just that tired. 

But today apparently that wasn’t going to happen. He let out a sigh, which Jace ignored, and pulled Wallace from under the blankets to rest the lizard against his shoulder. “Have a good day,” he offered, barely looking up as the door closed behind his roommate. “Don’t hurry back.” He groped on the window sill beside him for the remote, turning on the television and hunting for old episodes of Law and Order. “At least you’re on my team, Wallace,” Adrian went on, getting to his feet once again and walking to the terrarium. 

Quickly he checked the faulty heat lamp, frowning at it. The thing should have lasted longer, and Adrian wasn’t happy about the money he spent on an apparently shitty brand. “I’ll get you a new one tonight,” he murmured, putting Wallace back into the glass terrarium. “As soon as classes are over.” 

 

*** ***

Unfortunately, classes took a lot longer to be over with than Adrian had hoped. They day seemed to drag, and in Astronomy he’d found himself dosing off intermittently. Finally he found himself dragging his feet to American History, Cobra Starship filling his ears. 

Movement alerted him to someone rushing down the hallway, but his wet rock-like reflexes certainly weren’t enough to save him from the impending collision that knocked his books from his hands. The girl mumbled a quick apology and kept moving, not bothering to stop and help him pick up his notebook and two text books. Well, it would teach him to actually put his stuff in his backpack after class, for sure.

Sighing to himself, Adrian knelt down and quickly collected his things, only to stand up and step into someone himself. “I’m sorry,” Adrian mumbled automatically, turning to give the person an apologetic grin.

It frozeon his face, however, as he saw the red head from the café. The boy apparently recognized him as well, because he grinned and clapped Adrian on the shoulder.

“Hey! You’re Luke’s boyfriend, right?” he asked, laughing heartily.

“No,” Adrian denied, shaking his head. “I’m not his boyfriend. I’m not even gay,” he went on, putting hard emphasis on the word.

The redhead squinted, glancing back over his shoulder in the direction he’d probably come from. “Right. Well, whatever. Look, it’s not a big deal if you like him, but you don’t have to act all uptight about it.”

Uptight about it? Adrian wanted to yell-well, a small part of him did-but instead he just stood there and let out a breath. “Sorry,” he began. “But I’m not being uptight about it. I just…I’m really not gay, okay?” He gave the red haired hockey player a smile before turning and walking toward his history classroom. The walk didn’t take him long, and he was a good six minutes early when Adrian fell easily into his seat near the back of the room.

Pulling his iPod from his jacket pocket, Adrian settled it in his hand on the table in front of him, skipping through songs until he was listening to something a bit faster than he had been. Personally, Adrian liked the time before class where people were filtering in and catching up with their friends about their day. It gave him a chance to simply relax and collect himself before class started. He liked the privacy his headphones provided him, and liked that no one really bothered him. 

Adrian sighed, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. His day had been long, but this was his last class. American History usually seemed to go pretty fast, though he preferred history classes focusing on Eastern countries over the Western ones. Still, the professor for the class, Professor Schafer, was interesting and he always found himself interested in whatever she was presenting,

Eyes closed, he didn’t hear the greeting from beside him, and the tap on his shoulder scared him enough for Adrian to jump and open his eyes quickly. Luke sat beside him, a friendly smile on his face. 

Slowly Adrian pulled off his headphones, wrapping them around his iPod as Luke spoke. “Hey. I tried saying hello, and when you didn’t answer I wondered if you were dead. Gerard said he saw you fall out in the hallway. You okay?”

“Gerard?” Adrian looked at Luke in confusion. “Oh. The ginger hockey player?” The words were out quickly, and Adrian bit his lip as the memories of Saturday he’d been avoiding thinking of washed over him. He couldn’t help glancing down at Luke’s lips before back up at the blonde’s blue eyes.

“Yeah. Ferociously ginger, isn’t he?” Luke chuckled. “Said you seemed tense. But then, you always seem a bit tense,” he added with a shrug. “As far as I’ve seen, anyway.”

What was he supposed to say to that? Jessica had told him the same thing on occasion, that he seemed tense, but it wasn’t something he consciously did. Suddenly very self aware, Adrian sucked in a breath and shifted in his seat. Luckily, Luke had turned to the activity of pulling his books from his backpack and opening his laptop.

“Do you want to work on our project after this?” Luke went on, barely glancing at Adrian. “I had some ideas I wanted to throw at you. I thought we could go to the library together and work some on it.” His computer screen flashed on and Adrian caught sight of a hockey-themed desktop background before he turned back to his hands.

“I can’t,” he found himself saying. “Not right after class. My friend is driving me to the pet store. Wallace-my lizard-needs a new heating lamp.” Would Luke say anything at all about Saturday? An apology? An explanation? 

“Are you going to the one in town?” Luke pulled up his internet browser, immediately going to Facebook. Again Adrian looked away, feeling like he was prying into Luke’s personal life when they weren’t even friends. 

“Yeah. They should have the lamp I want for him. Any brand will do, really, since he needs one and the one he has is questionable at the best of times,” Adrian found himself explaining.

Luke was nodding. “I can take you,” he offered, glancing at Adrian. 

Adrian answered without thinking, and before he knew it his reply had slipped out of his mouth. “I’m not gay.” Once he said it he felt extremely bad, and turned to Luke with an apology ready.

To his surprise, the blonde hockey player looked like he was ready to laugh. “Funny, since I don’t remember my car having a ‘homos only’ rule,” he chuckled, rubbing his jaw. “Come on, Adrian. Let me drive you and we can work on our project. I won’t try to push you into some devious sexuality without your consent.” He paused, considering it. “Or at least until I know you better. No permanent promises though.”

Adrian paused, not sure what he should do. On one hand, it would be rude to turn Luke down. And it would give them a chance to talk more about their project. It sorely needed to be done, since neither of them had put enough work into it and both wanted a good grade. “I’d…really appreciate if you could drive me to the pet store,” he said finally, fiddling with his iPod touch. He didn’t look up, so he had no idea what kind of face Luke was making at his acquiescence. “Sorry.”

“For what? For telling me you aren’t gay? Unless I’m missing something, you weren’t insulting me-“ He broke off when Professor Schafer walked into the room, but turned to give Adrian a sly grin. “But if you’re expecting me to apologize for kissing you on Saturday then you’re going to be very disappointed.” Luke continued to grin, pulling up a word document on his computer as Adrian gave him a more-than-slightly bewildered look.


End file.
